


Essay:  How old is Shego?

by bcbdrums



Category: Kim Possible (2019), Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Essays, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-07 00:49:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17950418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bcbdrums/pseuds/bcbdrums
Summary: This is not fanfiction.  This is a copy-paste of a comment I made on Reddit answering the question that seems to plague the fandom.  Just how old is Shego?As it’s a copy-paste, on my phone, and I’m late for work, I’ve not formatted this.  Will do later.





	Essay:  How old is Shego?

**Author's Note:**

> This is not fanfiction. This is a copy-paste of a comment I made on Reddit answering the question that seems to plague the fandom. Just how old is Shego?
> 
> As it’s a copy-paste, on my phone, and I’m late for work, I’ve not formatted this. Will do later.

You have to think logically. She has a bachelor’s degree AND a teaching credential. Plus she says “fully credentialed” in the show. That implies a clear credential, because a temporary one would have expired without use. Cleared ones do have to be renewed, but it’s a fair period of time before that. However, many school districts don’t allow you to substitute without a clear credential. Some places allow you to apply for temporary ones that expire after a set period, and then can’t be renewed. All this is for student safety and of course to ensure they’re receiving good teaching. If she’d applied for a temp, she wouldn’t have said she was fully credentialed. This also can’t be too long after her credential cleared, or it could have expired. So we are looking at mid-late 20’s. Let’s break it down.

The time to clear a credential changes depending on what state you live in; rules vary. But let’s look at what it would take to get a credential at all. Minimum of four years for a bachelor’s degree. Someone out there may say, she could have done it in less. Well, yeah...and tormented herself doing it? Anyone who’s gotten a bachelor’s knows that four years is the least common time frame. Five and up, are the norm. But lazy Shego getting a degree in under four years? Doubt it. Not to mention, she was doing hero-work while studying! It probably took her longer than four years, but let’s assume four. People want to know the minimum age.

So assuming she went to college straight out of high school, a degree puts her at age 22. Then the minimum anywhere for a credential is one year, and that’s 23. Every place I’ve looked up shows a minimum of two years to clear your credential, so that’s 25. But she’s not just anywhere. KP takes place in Colorado. And most people assume that Go City is in Chicago, Illinois. So we can actually look at those states’ rules.

To clear a credential you have to be employed at the same school district for the duration of the evaluation and go through a mentoring-type program called induction. These programs all have different names. It requires regular meetings with said mentor, observations of your teaching by said mentor AND your school administrator, at the minimum, and of course, tons of homework, projects, and a final interview/project presentation. The focus in all this time is improving teaching practice, with a focus on your own development in the [State’s ] Standards for the Teaching Profession. You get graded on some intense interpersonal stuff, and how well you make curriculum accessible to all students (gifted kids, special ed. kids, kids who don’t speak English, and everything in between).

The more I’ve researched this, the more incredible it seems that Shego cleared a credential at all. She must have still felt strongly about her life as it was, and the thought of evil was likely far from her at the time. She would have gotten to know her mentor really, really well. And to get the credential cleared, she would have had to have been a good teacher and pass the final induction interview/presentation. Not to mention—the criminal background check. You have to be fingerprinted and have a background check before you can even enroll in some states’ credential programs after getting your bachelor’s.

But now we get to it: how many years does it take in Colorado or Illinois to get a credential? There are also different types of credentials, but that goes more into headcanon and less in fact.

Every school district makes their own induction rules and has the potential to be different, but most are the same. I checked several districts in both states. In Colorado, every district I checked requires a two year induction program. That would make Shego 25 when her credential is cleared. In Illinois, I found the same results. This is consistent with the state I was credentialed in, too.

“But what if ‘fully credentialed’ didn’t mean anything?” Well, I looked up the sub requirements for Colorado, too. As stated earlier, not just anybody can walk in and sub somewhere. Especially with the new culture of school shootings in America, the rules are tighter. Anyway, Colorado gives three sub licenses—a one year, that will only apply to the school that hires you, but most schools won’t hire someone with a one-year license. A three-year, which only requires a bachelor’s. And the five year, which requires a credential. And you have to go through the application process for those AND be fingerprinted...which is the most telling thing.

Since Shego even got a sub job in Middleton, we know her credential is actually cleared—she couldn’t have been fingerprinted at that time, and she wouldn’t have said she has a credential. So, if we assume that Shego immediately became evil after getting a clear credential, the youngest she could possibly be at the start of the series is 25.

I doubt she would do all that work, fool her mentors, and immediately quit. As a teacher, I know how much work getting a credential is. She would have been teaching full-time for two years. That is, in a classroom or classrooms, with students (age unknown), all day every day, for two years. And that mentorship relationship isn’t casual—in Colorado it’s a minimum of 20 hours together per semester. In Illinois it’s 34 hours. You really know this person well. For Shego to be evil and fool them, she’d have to a sociopath, and she clearly isn’t. And I mention again, she’s lazy. She wouldn’t work so hard for nothing for two years.

So she couldn’t have been evil immediately after clearing her credential. It’s logical to assume she tried to work. Probably in the same district and at the same school, unless she got transferred against her will. Which can happen. I know.

Let’s assume a minimum of one year working, and then she became evil for whatever reason. Perhaps seeing the similarities between her brothers and her students? Maybe her little brothers were her students? Maybe she got transferred to somewhere awful? Anyway, that would make her 26 at the start of KP and 29 at the end. (Kim is a sophomore to start, so even though there are four seasons the series only takes place over three years).

(Off-topic, to have arrest warrants in 11 countries in so short a time would be pretty impressive.)

Should we add that most states have additional requirements to teach/sub if your credential is from another state? Such as if she was credentialed in her home state but then moved to work elsewhere? She could be even older. But that’s more subjective.

In conclusion, Shego is 26 at the youngest when the KP series begins.

Speaking as a 31-year old female teacher myself, who just rewatched the entire KP series, this age range makes absolute, perfect sense with Shego’s personality and behaviors.

Thanks for reading.


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